PayPal is stopping operations in Russia in response to the country’s “violent military assault in Ukraine,” Reuters reports. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, tweeted a letter from PayPal CEO Dan Schulman announcing the company’s decision to cease operations in Russia.
PayPal was previously available in Russia solely for cross-border payments. It ceased accepting new Russian users earlier this week but has now taken the drastic step of shutting down all of its services – a move that also affects PayPal-owned money transfer provider Xoom. According to PayPal spokesperson Aidan Kelly, PayPal will “continue to process client withdrawals for an extended period of time, ensuring that account balances are distributed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”
Due to the financial sanctions imposed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, among others, some Russian users may have been unable to use their bank cards to make PayPal payments anyway. Apple Pay and Google Pay have already been disabled for certain users, since the sanctions target Russia’s top financial institutions, preventing bank clients from making card payments to businesses and services registered in sanctioned nations.
